HP today announced its intent to invest $1B in cloud products and services over the next two years. In addition, HP introduced Helion, a portfolio of cloud products that include existing and new OpenStack-based cloud offerings, other HP cloud products and professional services. Importantly, HP plans to focus Helion on hybrid cloud environments and the technologies needed to support their deployment and ongoing management as noted by Martin Fink, HP’s Executive Vice President and CTO:
Customer challenges today extend beyond cloud. They include how to manage, control and scale applications in a hybrid environment that spans multiple technology approaches. HP Helion provides the solutions and expertise customers need to select the right deployment model for their needs and obtain the greatest return for their investment.
While HP’s focus on hybrid clouds and the professional services required for their successful implementation differentiates itself from public cloud vendors such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google, the company has done little to embellish the functionality of its core, OpenStack-based public cloud platform in ways that render it competitive in recent months. Meanwhile, the decision to unveil new OpenStack-based products appears to be a marketing strategy directed at the upcoming OpenStack Summit and its concomitant slew of attendees and PR. The bottom line here is that HP’s attention to the technologies required to successfully manage hybrid cloud environments is refreshingly original but needs to be complemented by more substantive elaboration on its own product enhancements and the roadmap for its OpenStack-based cloud platform.
Cloud Computing Today 